World of Blue - Twin Peaks - David Lynch

Mark Frost recommendations

Mark Frost recommendations

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:09 pm

by LostInTheMovies

Lately I've been wanting to explore more of Mark Frost's work. I'm perpetually fascinated by the dynamic between Lynch and Frost - the overlaps but also the divergences in their worldviews and storytelling sensibilities, which I think tells us a lot about the wild ride of Twin Peaks. But while I'm very familiar with Lynch's work, having even conducted a retrospective of every available feature, short, TV episode, video, and commercial this spring, I really haven't experienced anything else created by Frost...yet. (Well, aside from the Fantastic Four movie but, really, the less said about that the better...)

I do plan to watch Storyville and some of the Hill Street Blues episodes he wrote, but what else would Frost fans (or at least those familiar with his work) recommend? Of the books, the ones I've heard mentioned most are The List of 7 and The Six Messiahs. I had thought he was more prolific, but looking on Amazon it seems he's only written a few novels so it might not be as hard as I thought to get ahold of all his fiction. I'm intrigued by what his other books and films can tell us about his perceptions of Twin Peaks, Cooper, the Laura mystery, etc. Martha Nochimson, in The Passion of David Lynch, has some really interesting insights into his more rationalistic take on Cooper, Windom Earle, and the Black Lodge...I'd like to see if I agree.

Also, Brad Dukes mentioned that contrary to perception, it was most likely Frost who led with the supernatural twist (at least if we're not counting the Red Room or Killer Bob as initially supernatural, since their presentation in season 1 is ambiguous). This interests me too.

Long-term I'm hoping to write, for my blog, a really in-depth exploration of Twin Peaks in all its aspects: the events of series, film, and even spin-off books and how they fit in to the overall story, the behind-the-scenes contributions of the various participants, the reception of Twin Peaks in the media at various points, and my own observations and interpretations of plot developments and turning points in the ongoing saga. Above all, I want to examine the big picture: how this wildly diverse show, which changed course and was stopped in its tracks several times nonetheless has an unconventional but powerful sense of direction and cohesion - especially with the help of later, Lynch-heavy additions like FWWM, the Log Lady intros, the Missing Pieces, and even Between Two Worlds. Hopefully this overview will be a culmination and conclusion to all the Peaks stuff I've written in the past and am planning for the next few months. I'll probably draft it soon but continue to revise it up to the 25th anniversary and I'm thinking more knowledge of Mark Frost will help it greatly.

Thanks to anyone who can offer recommendations - and/or their own interpretations of Frost's creative role in Peaks (I already know how heavily he was involved in managing the day-to-day operation of the show, but less about where his vision specifically entered into it).